Yeah, i ignored the syllabus throughout the preliminary and HSC course and so learnt almost nothing because i thought i hated physics, but when i went through the syllabus dot points to learn them about a month before the HSC i realised that i actually liked physics! A bit late by then of course
What i did realise was four things:
1: My school textbook sucked, and randomly avoided chunks of the syllabus while including completely irrelevant crap.
2: Study guides rock, they know all.
3: Definitely do practice questions, because you can't just recite wads of notes in the exam, you actually have to think for yourself.
4: Q2Q may be the most "popular" option in that more people do it, but compared to well, everything, it sucks.